Concierge to aqua

[sweetpickels]

I'm sailing for the 1st time with Celebrity on the Solstice in August to Alaska. I have an opportunity to upgrade from concierge to aqua class stateroom same vercinity of the ship except move from deck 9 to 11 for $300. Is this upgrade with the additional money.

Thanks in advance.

[Cruise a holic]

I personally would use the $300 for a dining package.  Typically the location of cc cabins better.  When we sailed aq after one time didn’t use aqua spa.  Food wasn’t great. Table for two on top of each other so really no great advantage.  We also had breakfast in tuscan as we are elite members.  You get the same cruise points.  Personal opinion 

[39august]

With Aqua your assigned dining is in Blu not the MDR. Haven't been on Solstice so can't say how good Blu is on that ship. We did Blu a couple of months ago on Reflection and thought the food was just a little bit better than MDR most nights, but not all. Service was amazing, decor lovely, and you can find a table for 2 that is not on top of your neighbor, but few of these. Breakfast was great.  I would not pay more than $100 per person for the difference. Aqua class cabins are the same size concierge or regular balcony cabins so no advantage there.

[cricketgirl]

It may depend on whether the spa area is important to you, as Aqua gives free access to the thermal areas.  If this is not important to you it may not be worth it to upgrade.  IMHO Blu is not much better than the MDR and as someone else mentioned the tables are just as close together as they are in the MDR.

[MCazer]

For my husband and I, absolutely!  We also had 1130 aft on Constellation.  Absolutely loved BLU, never had to wait for a table.  Service was outstanding, but what really did it for us, is that we use the thermal spa.  We went every day.  So relaxing to sit in the aromatic steam room, sit on the warm benches, sip on the water with orange slices and just take in all that we had seen during the day.  We were very port intensive, so it was so nice to go and relax for an hour.  We are booked again this October in the same room! Can't wait!

[jelayne]

If you are currently in a C1 on the very after then I wouldn’t move (and we love AQ).  The views from the aft facing cabins are great for an Alaska Cruise and the ship blocks the wind making the balcony not as chilly.

[Alsmez]

How long is the cruise? For a 7-day $300 is too much; for a 14-day it might not be.

[Edinburghgirl1]

The Solstice is the only S class ship which had some aft Aqua class cabins. We had one a couple of years ago when we sailed round New Zealand. If you can get one of these I would say it’s worth it as Blu is amazing. 

[sweetpickels]

Thanks for the replies. The cruise is for 7 days and the upgrade would be to an A2 category cabin.

[sweetpickels]

My final payment isn't due for another 2 weeks and there are alot of cabins still available in both categories. I've heard that Celebrity often waits till after final payment to really reduce the cost of these cabins. Is that actually the case? 

[jelayne]

1 hour ago, sweetpickels said:

My final payment isn't due for another 2 weeks and there are alot of cabins still available in both categories. I've heard that Celebrity often waits till after final payment to really reduce the cost of these cabins. Is that actually the case? 

 Sometimes there are large price reductions other times not. 

 

We are currently booked on a cruise that is a month beyond final payment and there are 37 unsold Aqua cabins.  So far the price has been reduced by $50pp. The price could go down more but the air fare has been increasing, particularly since the 737 Max grounding.

[Alsmez]

For a 7-day at $300 per person there's no way I'd do it - you can buy a specialty dining package and pass to the Persian Gardens for the same amount. For $300 total, maybe - depends on how much you want to eat in a non-MDR venue and how much you think you'd use the PG.

[dani negreanu]

2 hours ago, sweetpickels said:

My final payment isn't due for another 2 weeks and there are a lot of cabins still available in both categories. I've heard that Celebrity often waits till after final payment to really reduce the cost of these cabins. Is that actually the case? 

 

In my case -- a resounding yes.

First I was able to upgrade for free from 1C to C2 (on the hump, which is my favorite location).

Then the prices continued to drop, and for the original cost of 1C I could upgrade to A2, and then to a suite guarantee (W).

I don't like the Aquas' locations, and I didn't want to chance being allocated a suite on deck 12.....

[ghstudio]

3 hours ago, sweetpickels said:

My final payment isn't due for another 2 weeks and there are alot of cabins still available in both categories. I've heard that Celebrity often waits till after final payment to really reduce the cost of these cabins. Is that actually the case? 

 

The "rule" (policy?) is that if cabin prices change after final payment, you can ask to move to a different category cabin as long as the new cabin cost is at least $1 more than you have paid (note PAID...not the current price of your current cabin).

[Montana]

We like both dining in BLU as well as use of the aqua spa. I would normally pay additional for the aqua spa use. 

[fstuff1]

16 hours ago, Cruise a holic said:

I personally would use the $300 for a dining package.

 Typically the location of cc cabins better.  When we sailed aq after one time didn’t use aqua spa.  Food wasn’t great. Table for two on top of each other so really no great advantage.  We also had breakfast in tuscan as we are elite members.  You get the same cruise points.  Personal opinion 

 

i got a free c3. was willing to pay to upgrade to either Aqua to Sunset Veranda because i thought concierge class benefits were lackluster.

unfortunately, because of Oasis canceling cruises because of her drydock accident, there were no Aqua or Sunset's available for my sailing.

 

never thought about spending the Aqua upgrade $ on just buying a dining package. thx!
(but depending on cost, i might still pay for an upgrade to Sunset.)

 

wait.. is a Sunset Veranda on a lower point category than concierge class?

regular verandas get 3 pts/day, concierge gets 5.

how many points for Sunset cabins?

 

Edited April 26, 2019 by fstuff1

[Cruise a holic]

First, typically the balcony is much larger and you have a great view of the wake.  However on the negative side, we got lots of soot on our S1, not sure in the Sunset Veranda would also get the soot- it depends upon the wind.  Also, depending upon the deck, you might hear noise especially if directly under the sunset bar- lower down might be better.  If you don't mind the walk to the elevator, should be fine.  Also giving you extra cash to spend on board for the dining or other whatever you want.   Remember you do not get as many points per day for a Concierge cabin, you get the same as a regular balcony cabin- but if not important to you- a good option.

 

Enjoy

Edited April 26, 2019 by Cruise a holic

[TickledBlue]

18 hours ago, sweetpickels said:

My final payment isn't due for another 2 weeks and there are alot of cabins still available in both categories. I've heard that Celebrity often waits till after final payment to really reduce the cost of these cabins. Is that actually the case? 

This was the case for our upcoming 12N Iceland & Ireland cruise.  We upgraded from lowest category balcony to Aqua for $60 total at about 45 days before the cruise.   At about 25 days before the cruise, the prices went even lower and I got 2 perks thrown in for free.   

 

I was anticipating the price decreases because the number of Aqua cabins left stayed around 40 until the first price decrease, went down to around 30 until the second price decrease and pretty quickly sold out after that.   I'm sure there were a lot of upgrades because quite a few lower-level cabins then became available.   

 

YMMV

Edited April 26, 2019 by TickledBlue

[Pentlands]

Don't úpgrade t o Aqua, not worth it, use the money for speciality restaurants. I ate of MDR menu most nights in Blu.

[Luvcrusn]

For $300 per cabin, I'd do it. We enjoy Blu and the thermal area. Also many of the cabins in Aqua class are under an overhang, and in Alaska, where it rains a lot, that can be a plus allowing you to use your balcony when you'd normally not be able to take advantage of it. For $300 per person,  for a 7 day, I'd say no, stick with what you have.

[Luvcrusn]

13 hours ago, fstuff1 said:

 

i got a free c3. was willing to pay to upgrade to either Aqua to Sunset Veranda because i thought concierge class benefits were lackluster.

unfortunately, because of Oasis canceling cruises because of her drydock accident, there were no Aqua or Sunset's available for my sailing.

 

never thought about spending the Aqua upgrade $ on just buying a dining package. thx!
(but depending on cost, i might still pay for an upgrade to Sunset.)

 

wait.. is a Sunset Veranda on a lower point category than concierge class?

regular verandas get 3 pts/day, concierge gets 5.

how many points for Sunset cabins?

 

3 points per night in all verandah cabins.

[angiemom]

We were on the 4/18 infinity sailing in concierge class.  DH, who really isn't fond of crowds, was very happy with the nice, civilized concierge class  luncheon when we got in the ship.  He asked me to always book concierge going forward because the luncheon made for such a nice start to the trip.

[TFree]

On 4/25/2019 at 2:08 PM, ghstudio said:

 

The "rule" (policy?) is that if cabin prices change after final payment, you can ask to move to a different category cabin as long as the new cabin cost is at least $1 more than you have paid (note PAID...not the current price of your current cabin).

At the risk of hijacking this thread, I am not sure there is still such a rule.  We are sailing on Reflection in a month, and we were booked in a Sky Suite.  At least in part because there are many more suites on Reflection than on other S Class ships, we took advantage of 4 price drops before final payment.  They still had lots of unsold suites, so as I had guessed would happen, they dropped prices again after final payment.  One morning I got up and found that there was one Celebrity Suite available, and its price had dropped to $100 pp less than what we had already paid for the Sky Suite.  Our reservation was "owned" by the big box store travel agent, so I immediately called them, explained what we wanted to do, and I prepped them for the fact that they might have to push back if Celebrity were to argue that we can't get the upgrade because of the "$1 rule."

 

As soon as the TA got Celebrity on the phone, the upgrade for no charge was approved.  The TA reported that the $1 rule was not even mentioned.  So the rule either no longer exists, or at any rate it does not seem to be uniformly enforced.  

 

Tom & Judy

[cangelmd]

Check out some of the Blu menus and the specialty menus. We really like Blu as the best of both worlds. You can go eat when you want and generally will keep the same waitstaff. I think there will be a larger variety of dishes in Blu, although a mix of MDR and specialty might give the same effect

[sweetpickels]

Thanks everyone for all of the info this is an amazing forum. I think that I will hold off until after final payment and see if aqua gets discounted further before I jump on the upgrade.